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I think t's pretty clear to everyone on this thread that using just one value to represent ability to stay standing is a to really going to be realistic. Everyone who has seriously fought knows that a combination of energy, bruising and injury are at least three ways of measuring ability to stay...

This is actually not my experience with 4E. I've run. lot of various versions of D&D, and I think I'd argue that 4E is the easiest to mess with. I think the reason is that the design is consistent and well-defined. That means that when you mess with it, you have a good idea what will happen...

VR will replace F2F gaming in exactly the same way that movies replaced books (They won't) Some people will prefer one; some people the other. Most people like some of both. Unless we get to a far enough future that VR is capable of perfectly simulating reality, very large numbers of people are...

Some things have not changed for thousands of years: People like to meet with their friends and enjoy a shared activity People like to tell stories, and participate in telling stories People like to play games with physical dice and tactile components I don’t expect them to change much in the...

"Railroad" is a term used by a person for whom the constraints on player agency have become too onerous. It's entirely subjective and just a way of defining a personal preference on the continuum. There will always be constraints on players, even in the most freeform system, because it's just...

Well, that presumes you are a “one system“ fan, and it also assumes you don’t want adventures, expansions, art, modules, character options, etc. So that’s totally not me. But if you are looking for a one stop, all-free, all the music you want across multiple genres, there are a fair number of...

Yes, that does seem to be your best plan; you have no respose to my points except to make ad hominem attacks, no evidence to propose and apparently are completely unwilling to consider changing your mind. I'm sorry you are unwilling to engage in debate and resort to being rude, but hey, it's the...

Millions of people, buying something means it must be high quality? I think you’re on your own with that argument, dude. Your argument was that RPGs have it easier. My statement is that there is more free material for other arts. my evidence was copyright, which you concede is correct. If you...

As an editor and a director of musicals, I disagree. A choir consisting of, say, the top 10% of all amateurs can produce a compelling and highly enjoyable work. A book or other form of writing written by a top 10% amateur will be pretty bad. Even the top 1% will only be just passable. For solo...

No, good question. I was a bit short on time when I posted, so now have the time to answer it here. Our group has several GMs and we like playing in multiple campaigns at the same time, so if someone pitches a game, we usually ask them how long they expect to run for. For the current campaigns...

I like it to be between 50% and 200% of the time that the person who pitched it said it would last. If they say "it's a six-session game where you track down a group of murderers" and we're ten sessions in with no end in sight, I'm disappointed that the GM is unable to control the pacing.If I...

Ideally, all of them. In practice, any that you think share aspects of a culture you describe. I'd try the following. checklist: For each race you describe, list any defining or characteristics you present Think for yourself of which real-life cultures this might be considered a characteristic...

Well ... no. Sometimes you re wrong, but there is no good way to know it. For example, in 1850 you might have asserted that atoms were indivisible and the smallest possible piece of matter. You would have been wrong, but have really no way to know it. Bad depiction of racial stereotypes have...

I am an associate editor for a journal; this piece of writing so bad that I would reject it with no encouragement, and not even consider sending it out to review. I might check if English is the person’s first language and if not suggest that they find a co-author who is a native speaker. I only...

That's only true for people dedicated to the simulationist point of view. For many of us, hit points are a mechanical device vaguely associated with your ability to take damage that should not be used to model reality. It's really hard for many of us to handle a system where 1000 hp == feeling...

Yep, it's always been the issue with hit points in D&D -- 4E made that very clear. If you renamed hit points to "stress" it makes so much more sense. Your leaders don't heal you -- they receive stress. You don't die at 0hp, you drop from accumulated stress. If you run out of surges, you have hit...

It's fun watching simualtionists and gamiest talk past each other through this thread: Simulationist A: "in the real world, hitting someone with a hammer could cause permanent harm, therefore the act is evil" Gamist A: "by the rules, it was impossible to hurt the kid with a hammer, therefore...

If you haven't checked out Thousand Year Old Vampire, I'd strongly suggest considering it. It's a solo (journaling) RPG that I found works mechanically well, produces a compelling narrative and is strongly atmospheric. It's been a ton of fun for me during lockdown as a solo activity and it has...

I have to say, all your CE characters have very limited vision. My CE character will do whatever it takes to get the child hurt, but not killed, stir up the crowd against the ”evil laws that stop a child from even living” and at the very least make the citizens distrust and fear the Authorities...

I used the weapon speed and spell duration based initiative modifiers in AD&D in a recent campaign, together with missile fire always going before melee. It worked pretty well. I used a single group roll or initiative for each side, so the order within each side was determined by their stance...